Wireless choices not clear

I've blogged about a new way of connecting to the internet that doesn't involve wires (to your home), called WiMax.

Recently, I've been seeing TV commercials (from Rogers) offering a new mobile service to connect to the internet with your mobile computer using a device that plugs into a USB port called the Rocket Stick. So now I'm wondering what that is exactly - is it a small, USB connected version of WiMax? I set to find out.

Turns out - no - it is not WiMax. It's EV-DO. In case you've never heard of that, it's the technical name for the 3G high speed service that smart phones use to connect to the internet. Now they make a device that makes it possible to connect to that service from a computer - typically a laptop. In practise, users are likely to see 400 to 700 Kbps download speeds.

A few months ago, I was browsing the Sony store and they're bragging that their newest laptops have built-in mobile internet. I asked the salesperson if that was WiMax and he didn't know. A little solo investigative work revealed that - no - it's not WiMax either. It's an EDGE modem (basically slow internet via the cell phone network). Typically EDGE provides data rates between 75 and 135 kbps and peak rates of 170 kbps, which is slow compared to wireless LAN
speeds.

With all these competing wireless offerings for mobile computing, consumers are going to get pretty confused.